Boulder Public Library seeks public input on renovation of main branch

Two 'visioning' meetings set for February

Tesfaye Johnson, 5, and his mother, Susie Taylor, look over some "Star Wars" books in the children s area of the Boulder Public Library on Friday. A remodeling plan includes a redesign of the children s and teen areas and changes to the media area, the circulation desk and the adult literacy classrooms.
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CLIFF GRASSMICK
)

Boulder library officials want to hear from the public as they begin the design process for a $2.45 million renovation of the main branch.

There will be two meetings this month -- one Tuesday and one Feb. 23 -- to collect ideas from library users about their vision for the library's future.

Those ideas will be incorporated into the plans for the renovation, which includes a redesign and remodel of the children's and teen areas and changes to the media area, the circulation desk and the adult literacy classrooms. The renovation will also enhance the library's fiction, music and movies collection area.

"We have an opportunity to really change the public's library experience," library Executive Director Valerie Maginnis said. "What they see and will be able to experience will be completely different from what it is now."

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The library has chosen Studiotrope Design Collective to do the design for the renovation.

Creative director Brigitte Kerr and managing partner Joseph Montalbano said they want to hear as many ideas as possible from as many library users as possible.

"We want buildings to be responsive and reflect community," Montalbano said. "We don't feel that currently it's meeting its full potential in that regard. We want to have a better and clearer understanding of what the Boulder experience is. It will be hard for us to design the building around the community if we don't understand what that is."

Kerr said she'll use images and other methods to stimulate conversation at the "visioning" meetings this month.

Then there will be a "check-in" meeting April 18 where architects will present preliminary drawings to make sure they're capturing the ideas presented by the community.

"We take words and turn them into spatial and experiential components," Kerr said. "We want to check in and make sure we're interpreting the words correctly."

That meeting will be followed by an "agree" meeting May 29 before architects start work on formal plans.

Maginnis said she hopes many of the people who attend the first visioning meetings follow through and attend the later meetings to provide continued feedback.

Construction is expected to start in January 2014.

Most of the money for the project comes from $49 million in bonds approved by Boulder voters in November 2011.

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